Music free from time, in the museum space, is one of the subjects of the exhibition Phonemes – Exhibiting Music, which opens at Hafnarborg, Saturday January 26th 2019.
The exhibition celebrates the fifth anniversary of the concert series of the same name, extending the platform of the series, which is dedicated to contemporary music and has been a part of the Hafnarborg programme since 2013. The exhibition highlights music and art, which augments our perception, as well as affecting our listening and altering our relation to sound in diverse ways.
Here our ideas of music are confronted with the timelessness of the exhibition space. The music goes beyond the limitation of sound, where the visuals play a vital role in our perception of the music itself. Music becomes as much a sound as it is a fixed object. Musical time is translated into distances in space, the performer and the listener unite.
The participating artists are Ásta Ólafsdóttir, Steina, Steinunn Eldflaug Harðardóttir, Logi Leó Gunnarsson, Jón Gunnar Árnason, James Saunders, Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, Magnús Pálsson, Tom Johnson, Curver Thoroddsen and Einar Torfi Einarsson.
A series of live performances will be held during the exhibition, featuring artists and musicians such as Haraldur Jónsson, Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir, Jennifer Torrence, Marko Ciciliani, Barbara Lüneburg, Berglind María Tómasdóttir, Skerpla and more.
The curator is Þráinn Hjálmarsson, composer.
Phonemes is a concert series, dedicated to the music of the 20th and 21st century, where the imagination and innovation of composers leads the audience into previously unknown territory. With the series, Hafnarborg provides a stage for the varied works of leading contemporary composers. Special focus is on works which make the most of the intimacy of the museum space, which distinguishes it from other concert spaces in the Reykjavík capital region.
The exhibition received The Icelandic Music Awards 2020 as The Music Event of the Year (Single Event), for its opening concert, in the field of classic and contemporary music.
